Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 239 / Tuesday, December 13, 2011 / Notices 77583 

1According to the application, the ethane 

transported in the Vantage Pipeline is a flammable 

liquid that is non-corrosive, odorless, and colorless. 

It has similar characteristics to natural gas, the fuel 

that is used in furnaces to heat homes. Ethane is 

currently used as a feedstock by the Alberta 

petrochemical industry and is ultimately converted 

to plastics, anti-freeze, rubber, detergents, solvents, 

and like products. 

Dated: December 6, 2011. 

J. Adam Ereli, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau 

of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 

Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2011–31984 Filed 12–12–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice 7728] 

Vantage Pipeline US LP; Notice of 

Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Assessment and Request for 

Comments on Environmental Issues, 

and To Initiate Consultation Under 

Section 106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act for the Proposed 

Vantage Pipeline Project 

December 9, 2011. 

The staff of the United States 

Department of State (DOS) will prepare 

an environmental assessment (EA) that 

will discuss the environmental impacts 

of the Vantage Pipeline Project 

involving construction, operation, and 

maintenance of facilities at the U.S.- 

Canada border by Vantage Pipeline US 

LP (Vantage) in Williams and Divide 

Counties, North Dakota. This EA will be 

used by the DOS in its decision-making 

process to determine whether the 

project would serve the national interest 

and be issued a Presidential Permit. 

This notice announces the opening of 

the scoping process the DOS will use to 

gather input from the public and 

interested agencies on the project. Your 

input will help the DOS staff determine 

what issues need to be evaluated in the 

EA. Please note that the scoping period 

will close on January 17, 2011. 

This notice is being sent to the DOS’ 

current environmental mailing list for 

this project. State and local government 

representatives are asked to notify their 

constituents of this planned project and 

encourage them to comment on their 

areas of concern. 

If you are a landowner receiving this 

notice, you may have already been or 

may be contacted by a pipeline 

company representative about the 

acquisition of an easement to construct, 

operate, and maintain the proposed 

facilities. The company would seek to 

negotiate a mutually acceptable 

agreement. However, if the project is 

approved by the DOS, that approval 

conveys with it the right of eminent 

domain. Therefore, if easement 

negotiations fail to produce an 

agreement, the pipeline company could 

initiate condemnation proceedings 

where compensation would be 

determined in accordance with state 

law. 

Additionally, the DOS has determined 

that issuance of a Presidential Permit for 

the Vantage Pipeline Project triggers 

review under Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act and 

is consequently initiating the required 

consultation under that statute. 

Consultation will be conducted with 

State Historic Preservation Officers, 

Indian tribes, and the Advisory Council 

on Historic Preservation, and other 

consulting parties, as appropriate, to 

determine the locations (if any) of 

potential sites for inclusion on the 

National Register of Historic Places as 

well as the potential eligibility and 

findings of effect for cultural resources 

identified within the Vantage Pipeline 

Project Area of Potential Effect. 

A fact sheet prepared by the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) 

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas 

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need 

To Know?’’ is available for your review 

on the DOS’ Web site for the project (see 

the Additional Information section, 

below). Although the proposed Vantage 

project involves an ethane pipeline, 

many of the typically asked questions 

addressed in the fact sheet also apply to 

this project. It is also available for 

viewing on the FERC Web site (http:// 

www.ferc.gov). 

Summary of the Proposed Project 

Vantage proposes to construct and 

operate 77.4 miles of 10-inch-diameter 

ethane 1 pipeline in Williams and 

Divide Counties, North Dakota. The 

project would also include the 

installation of mainline valves at seven 

locations along the pipeline and the use 

of various ancillary facilities (e.g., 

access roads, yards). According to 

Applicant, the Vantage Pipeline Project 

would serve the national interest by 

providing the natural gas, oil, and 

ethane-producing Bakken Formation 

region of North Dakota with access to 

the existing ethane infrastructure and 

market associated with the Alberta 

Ethane Gathering System in Alberta. 

Currently no market exists for 

petrochemical grade (also known as 

‘‘specification’’ or ‘‘pure grade’’) ethane 

in North Dakota; however, the 

construction of the Vantage Pipeline 

will make it feasible to extract the 

ethane byproduct from North Dakotaproduced natural gas and export it for 

use in the Canadian petrochemical 

industry. The Applicant contends that 

the pipeline will therefore enhance 

exports from the United States, allow 

U.S. natural gas producers to recognize 

benefits from an existing resource from 

which they are not presently 

recognizing any financial benefit, and 

will contribute to the national economy 

in terms of job creation and tax 

payments. 

The general location of the project 

facilities is at http:// 

www.vantagepipeline.state.gov. 

Land Requirements for Construction 

Construction of the proposed facilities 

would disturb about 700 acres of land 

for the aboveground facilities and the 

pipeline. Following construction, about 

280 acres would be maintained for 

permanent operation of the project’s 

facilities; the remaining acreage would 

be restored and allowed to revert to 

former uses. 

The EA Process 

The National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) requires the DOS take into 

account the environmental impacts that 

could result from the approval of a 

Presidential Permit authorizing 

construction, operation, and 

maintenance of pipeline facilities of 

natural gas liquids to be located at the 

international border of the United States 

and Canada. NEPA also requires the 

DOS to discover and address concerns 

the public may have about proposals. 

This process is referred to as ‘‘scoping.’’ 

The main goal of the scoping process is 

to focus the analysis in the EA on the 

important environmental issues. By this 

notice, the DOS requests public 

comments on the scope of the issues to 

address in the EA. All comments 

received will be considered during the 

preparation of the EA. 

In the EA, the DOS will discuss 

impacts that could occur as a result of 

the construction and operation of the 

proposed project under these general 

headings: 

• Geology and soils; 

• Water resources and wetlands; 

• Vegetation and wildlife (including 

endangered and threatened species); 

• Land use, recreation, and visual 

resources; 

• Socioeconomics; 

• Cultural resources; 

• Air quality and noise; 

• Public safety; and 

• Cumulative impacts. 

The DOS will also evaluate reasonable 

alternatives to the proposed project or 

portions of the project, and make 

recommendations on how to lessen or 

avoid impacts on the various resource 

areas. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
77584 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 239 / Tuesday, December 13, 2011 / Notices 

The DOS’ independent analysis of the 

issues will be presented in the EA. The 

EA will be placed in the public record 

and, depending on the comments 

received during the scoping process, 

may be published and distributed to the 

public. A comment period will be 

allotted if the EA is published for 

review. The DOS will consider all 

comments on the EA before it issues a 

Presidential Permit. To ensure your 

comments are considered, please 

carefully follow the instructions in the 

Public Participation section. 

With this notice, the DOS is asking 

agencies with jurisdiction and/or 

special expertise with respect to 

environmental issues to formally 

cooperate with DOS in the preparation 

of the EA. These agencies may choose 

to participate once they have evaluated 

the proposal relative to their 

responsibilities. Agencies that would 

like to request cooperating agency status 

should follow the instructions for filing 

comments provided under the Public 

Participation section of this notice. 

During this scoping period, the DOS 

also plans to use the scoping process to 

help identify historic preservation 

issues for consideration under Section 

106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act and its implementing 

regulations (Title 36 Code of Federal 

Regulations Part 800). 

Public Participation 

You are encouraged to become 

involved in this process and provide 

your specific comments or concerns 

about the proposed project. By 

becoming a commenter, your concerns 

will be considered by the DOS and 

addressed appropriately in the EA. Your 

comments should focus on the potential 

environmental impacts, reasonable 

alternatives (including alternative 

facility sites and alternative pipeline 

routes), and measures to avoid or lessen 

environmental impacts. Parties 

interested in being involved in Section 

106 consultation should also contact the 

DOS. The more specific your comments, 

the more useful they will be. To ensure 

that your comments are timely and 

properly recorded, please send your 

comments so they will be received on or 

before January 17, 2011. 

For your convenience, there are two 

methods that you can use to submit 

your comments to the DOS. In all 

instances please reference the project 

(i.e., Vantage) with your submission. 

The DOS encourages electronic filing of 

comments. 

(1) You may file a paper copy of your 

comments at the following address: 

Alexander Yuan, OES/ENV, NEPA 

Compliance Officer, P.O. Box 18500, 

Minneapolis, MN 55418, REFERENCE: 

VANTAGE; or 

(2) You may email comments to 

AlexanderYuan@merjent.com. 

Environmental Mailing List 

The environmental mailing list 

includes Federal, state, and local 

government representatives and 

agencies; elected officials; 

environmental and public interest 

groups; Native American Tribes; other 

interested parties; and local libraries 

and newspapers. This list also includes 

all affected landowners who are 

potential right-of-way grantors, whose 

property may be used temporarily for 

project purposes, and anyone who 

submits comments on the project. The 

DOS will update the environmental 

mailing list as the analysis proceeds to 

ensure that it sends the information 

related to this environmental review to 

all individuals, organizations, and 

government entities interested in and/or 

potentially affected by the proposed 

project. 

Additional Information 

The application and related 

documents that are part of the record to 

be considered by the DOS in connection 

with this application, including 

environmental information and 

associated maps, are downloadable from 

a Web site that is being established for 

this purpose: http:// 

www.vantagepipeline.state.gov. 

A Vantage hosted project Web site is 

also available at http:// 

www.vantagepipeline.com. The Vantage 

Pipeline Project toll free number is 1– 

(877) 918–6818 (United States). 

Dated: December 7, 2011. 

George N. Sibley, 

Director, Office of Environmental Policy, 

Bureau of Oceans and International, 

Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. 

Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2011–31964 Filed 12–12–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–09–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public Notice: 7713] 

U.S. Department of State Advisory 

Committee on Private International 

Law (ACPIL): Public Meeting on 

Electronic Commerce 

The Department of State, Office of 

Legal Adviser, Office of Private 

International Law would like to give 

notice of a public meeting to discuss 

electronic transferable records. Working 

Group IV (international electronic 

commerce) of the United Nations 

Commission on International Trade Law 

(UNCITRAL) met October 10–14, 2011, 

to discuss matters relating to electronic 

transferable records. A report from that 

meeting, once it is published, should be 

available at http://www.uncitral.org/ 

uncitral/en/commission/ 

working_groups/ 

4Electronic_Commerce.html. 

The ACPIL public meeting will 

discuss relevant rules applicable to 

electronic transferable records, current 

practice involving the use of electronic 

transferable records, and potential areas 

in which work by UNCITRAL could be 

beneficial. 

Time and Place: The public meeting 

will take place on Friday, January 6, 

2012, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST in 

Room 1207 in the Department of State’s 

Harry S. Truman Building, 2201 C Street 

NW., Washington, DC 20520. If you are 

unable to attend the public meeting and 

would like to participate from a remote 

location, teleconferencing will be 

available. 

Public Participation: This meeting is 

open to the public, subject to the 

capacity of the meeting room. Access to 

the meeting building is controlled. 

Persons wishing to attend in person or 

telephonically should contact both 

Tricia Smeltzer (SmeltzerTK@state.gov) 

and Niesha Toms (TomsNN@state.gov) 

of the Office of the Assistant Legal 

Adviser for Private International Law, 

and provide your name, affiliation, 

email address, and mailing address. If 

you would like to participate in person, 

please also provide your date of birth, 

citizenship, and driver’s license or 

passport number for entry in the 

building. Members of the public who 

are not pre-cleared might encounter 

delays with security procedures. 

Personal data from the public is 

requested pursuant to Public Law 99– 

399 (Omnibus Diplomatic Security and 

Antiterrorism Act of 1986), as amended; 

Public Law 107–56 (USA PATRIOT 

Act); and Executive Order 13356. The 

purpose of the collection is to validate 

the identity of individuals who enter 

Department facilities. The data will be 

entered into the Visitor Access Control 

System (VACS–D) database. Please see 

the Privacy Impact Assessment for 

VACS–D at http://www.state.gov/ 

documents/organization/100305.pdf for 

additional information. A member of the 

public needing reasonable 

accommodation should advise either of 

the aforementioned contacts not later 

than December 27, 2011. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES